In Exilium
by AllHailTheGeek
Summary: Another drabble series, this time about Luke in his years on that unknown island, alone but for ghosts, memories, and the Force. SPOILERS AGAIN.
1. Tea

As he explores another verdant path, Qui-Gon puts in a very unexpected appearance.

That is to say, he abruptly materializes not _half a meter_ in front of Luke, coming close to making him jump out of his field boots. "Do you see this?" the old ghost demands, crouching to indicate something on the ground.

"It...appears to be a bush, Master Jinn."

"This is not just any bush. It's a fine specimen of sapir tea, Thyferran variant by the look of it, and you are carrying a trowel, looking for something with which to start a kitchen garden. Do I make myself clear?"

"Abundantly." Luke starts to dig.


	2. Winter

**A/N: Whoops-a-daisy, forgot the disclaimer again: Star Wars is my life, but, sadly, not my property.**

He senses the first snowball an instant too late.

"Hey!" He whirls around, seeking the thrower, but he isn't there- well, at least not _visibly_ there. Anakin is still about as good at masking his Force presence as a fire is at hiding on a moonless night. "I know you're there, Fathe-"

He senses the second snowball an instant too late.

So Obi-Wan's decided to play dirty, has he?

An hour later, utterly soaked, Luke realizes that he is having _fun._


	3. Lonely

They often bring him messages from the beyond.

For example, Anakin, his very first heart-wrenching night: "Ahsoka says don't be so hard on yourself, and she'd send you some steak in sympathy, if she could figure out how."

Or Qui-Gon, after he spends an entire day trying (and failing) to fix his Makashi: "Cin Drallig says you should really try Djem So."

Or Obi-Wan, after a nasty broken leg that leaves him in a healing trance for forty-eight straight hours: "Vokara Che says you remind her of me."

Is his new existence just? Yes. Sad? Unbearably so. Lonely? ...Not quite.


	4. Ataru

Yoda doesn't come around much anymore. He has better things to do: confer with other Masters in the afterlife, drink tea, scold those who will be younglings forever, make sure the aftershock of Luke's terrible mistake doesn't extinguish the Light completely.

And also, apparently, jump with impossible agility among dogfighting X-wings and TIEs, knocking a large fraction of the green bolts away from the Resistance fighters via the Force. Or so Anakin says.

For a moment Luke wishes he could be out there with them, just so he could see it firsthand.

Talk about Ataru.


	5. Vision

He's hardly had a normal dream since age twenty-three.

Take tonight, for instance: he wakes sweating, breath gusting hot and ragged in the midnight silence. From the moment he fell asleep, he knew this wasn't quite real- it was something yet to come, a _might be_ rather than an _is so now._ His world melts into memory, tilting dizzily between here and the Force.

Lying there in the mundane dark, he relives the desert, the battle, the betrayal, the crash, the droid, the girl, the _focal point-_ and wonders where he can possibly have seen them all before.


	6. Centered

All Paths Kata. Six forms, one dance. The emerald lightning sings around him, flowing through the motions he will never teach again. Shii-Cho: simple, controlled, the youngling's first. Makashi: duelist's. Slash and parry, keep the grief - the invisible opponent - at bay.

 _I am a Jedi, like my father before me._

Soresu: flawless defenses, like those around his heart. Ataru: flashy, acrobatic, a blinding flip and then forward to full offensive, Djem So. Aggression. Anakin's favorite. Pull back, shift stance, Niman: moderation. The balance. Everything at once.

 _There is no emotion, there is peace._

Final flourish, _cho mai,_ stop. One breath. Another. At rest.

Centered.


	7. House

He mopes around in the ship for a few days, then decides that if this island is to be his home for years untold, he had better make it feel like one.

The house is abandoned, made of stone and sun-baked clay, a relic of some primitive civilization now long gone. The Force warns him of its instability. The ship's support struts make short work of this- the ship is useless as a ship, since his 'saber scrapped the hyperdrive. He moves its furniture in, giving the house a dust-and-metal Tatooine feel.

Learning to survive will come easily now. Learning to _live_ is the tough part.


	8. Fable

_"For want of a vane, the steering was lost; for want of the steering, the bike was lost; for want of a bike, the captain was lost; for want of the captain, the squadron was lost; for want of the squadron, the battle was lost; for want of the battle, the war was lost; for want of the war, the planet was lost, and all for want of a steering vane."_

"What?!"

 _"For want of a-"_

"Yes, Father, I know what you said, but what did it _mean?"_

"It just goes to show, the tiniest thing - one person, one choice - can have a huge effect."

The name _Darth Vader_ hangs unspoken in the Force between them.


	9. Beard

"Very... _august,_ Luke."

"I don't know...I mean, it's not like I brought anything to _shave_ with so this is kind of a moot point, you two…"

Force ghosts, though they cannot push corporeal objects, can push each other. Anakin takes full advantage of this upon Obi-Wan, as Luke stands before his piece of durasteel cleaned to a mirror finish. "Funny, Master. So funny. Don't mind him, Luke; obviously he likes it, he's still got one himself, but I think what he's really trying to say is it makes you look _old."_

"Anakin! I did _not_ say that!"

Luke only laughs.


End file.
